(You want to go to college where it is in the experience and not full of prima donna study freaks!  Thats just not what undergraduate education is about, example, ivies and ivy clones.)

However I noticed for one odd reason from another, comparatively speaking, it has a Nouveau Riche feel (very annoying).  There is also a feeling of “too cool for school” off campus trendy culture element, which makes this school feel like a commuter school.  In otherwords AU should provide more on campus housing!!!

My theory is that, AU is not a famous expensive school which should explain the intake of students but hopefully more brilliant students should really consider AU as there top choice because from experience AU rivals the IVIES in terms of pedagogy, resources and institutional mission. 

Trust me I'm a transfer student from those “other” schools.

The academic program is a little too professionally orientated such as SIS and SPA and communication and business.  In other words its not that famous because AU is pretty much a professional school and not a liberal arts influenced institution.  However I think the administration is seeing that flaw and trying to make it more liberal arts based (ie.  learning for learning sake).

This is another reason why I think brilliant students are put off by AU because its just not liberal arts/sciences enough!  People here are trained a little too early on there desired careers which is the minor negative of AU. 

On the other hand if more brilliant students apply here and elect to take hard sciences and hard humanities such as philosophy and religion (unlike the B.S. communication or business programs) then the school will be just perfect in every aspect!

I hope people are not put off by AU's anonymity compared to the IVIES and other top Research and Liberal Arts Colleges because AU is really really really good and in my opinion actually rivals these schools!